


Shaky Hands

by 0_Reve_0



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt Peter Parker, Injured Peter Parker, Iron Man to the rescue, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Poor Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Spider-Man Interacting with New Yorkers, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump, Whumptober 2019, spider-man injured, spider-man kicks butt, spider-man wounded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:14:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22074577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0_Reve_0/pseuds/0_Reve_0
Summary: Finally cracking on with some Whumptober 2019 prompts, only 3 months too late!Spider-Man is having a pretty average night on patrol, same old trouble, same old super hero. Then he meets a stranger who might be about to change not just his night but his entire future.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 93





	Shaky Hands

Spider-Man followed the screams and landed on a roof overlooking where they had originated from. He quickly assessed the situation - three men, all armed with pocket knives and heavily built. They stood in a semi-circle, towering over an obviously terrified young blonde.  
“Karen, scan the area. Anything I‘m missing and should be aware of?” Spidey asked his AI.  
Karen relayed the information he already knew.  
“Just another average mugging then,” Spider-Man muttered to himself.  
The woman screamed again as the thug, who appeared to be in charge, balled his hand in her hair and lifted her to stand on her toes. She desperately clawed at his arm trying to relieve the pressure off her scalp and free herself.  
Spidey silently jumped to the alley floor and quickly shot a web to the nearest guy. He hit his legs causing him to stumble into his friend sending them both tumbling to the floor.  
“Wow! Do you guys do your own stunts?” quipped the wall crawler before quickly webbing the men together and taking them fully out of the equation.  
The lead goon dropped the crying woman unceremoniously to the floor and quickly focused his attention on Spider-Man. He raised his knife and ran at the hero hoping to barrel him over. Spidey felt as though the thug was moving in slow motion as he easily leapt into the air and pushed off the surprised mans head to somersault over, landing nimbly between the woman and the danger.  
Spider-Man quickly glanced over his shoulder to the red eyed lady. “You’re going to be fine,” he said gently. “Just keep back and let me deal with this jerk and then we’ll take you somewhere safer.”  
The woman shakily nodded her head and took a step back. Satisfied, Spidey turned his attention back to the last of the muggers. The large man raised his knife again and began to run at the web slinger once more.  
“You just don’t learn do you,” scoffed Spidey as he raised his wrist to web the knife from his hand.  
Before he could fire he felt the familiar tingling sensation of his Spidey sense shoot its way strongly up his spine. He spun to confront the danger he had missed only to be met with a sharp pain in his neck. The woman he thought he was protecting stood close to him, her face no longer a mask of fear, instead a cruel smile faintly showed itself. In her hand she held a now empty syringe.  
“Goodbye Spider-Man,” she calmly whispered.  
Spider-Man didn’t have time to react as his Spidey sense screamed out once more, alerting him of the fast approaching knife. He quickly spun to the side dodging the mugger running at him. As he spun he grasped the back of the guy’s neck and forced him forward into the wall. The thug head butted it hard and bounce backwards into a heap on the floor. Without missing a beat Spidey turned to confront the ‘victim’ to find nothing but an empty alley in front of him.  
Spider-Man frowned before returning his attention to the downed goon. He quickly webbed him up before crouching and checking for a pulse. He felt a small trickle of relief as he confirmed the guy wasn’t dead, just out cold.  
“Karen, call the police please,” asked Spider-Man  
He stood up and grunted with discomforted. Peering at his side Spidey could see the dark stain of blood. It was as if seeing it suddenly made it real and a hot burning flared up where he hadn’t dodged the knife as well as he thought he had.  
“Peter,” said Karen’s gentle voice. “The police have been informed of this location. I’m also detecting a laceration to your left side that will need medical attention and a small puncture wound to your neck. Would you like me to inform Mr Stark?”  
Spider-Man frowned and ignored the question. “What the hell did that lady put in me Karen?”  
“Running diagnostic,” replied Karen. After a few seconds of silence she gave her results. “I’m sorry Peter but I can’t detect what has been injected into your system at this time. I strongly advise contacting Mr Stark.”  
Spider-Man shook his head. “No, no, Karen. I’m fine. Let me just finish this patrol and then I’ll get it sorted out. My metabolism is hardly common knowledge so I doubt it was taken into account when they injected me with whatever that was. A good swing through the city will soon help to clear it out of my system.”  
“Peter, I must inform you that from my analysis of the situation, this was most likely a trap to lure you in. In conclusion there could well be another one waiting for you,” explained Karen. “We have no idea of what their intentions were or the substance used on you after all.”  
“I’m well aware of that Karen,” said Spider-Man rolling his eyes. “I’m fine. I’ll just be a little more cautious tonight.”  
Leaning over, Spidey shot a makeshift web bandage onto the knife wound to hold it temporarily before shooting another web and pulling himself out of the alley and into the city just as the first sound of sirens hit his ears.

***

Spider-Man stumbled forward and shot a hand out to balance himself as he landed sloppily on the roof of an apartment block. It had been an hour since the earlier incident and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he wasn’t feeling one hundred percent.  
Karen’s voice suddenly sounded in his mask. “Peter, your temperature has started to rise and the wound on your side has yet to clot. It is my protocol to inform Mr Stark if I feel you need immediate medical attention.”  
Spider-Man was about to reply when he heard a commotion nearby.  
“Peter...,” Karen repeated.  
“Let me just deal with this and then I promise I’ll go see Mr Stark,” begged Spidey. Please don’t call him Karen.”  
The last thing he wanted was to be rescued again and for Mr Stark to think he was completely incapable of being Spider-Man. He didn’t need more lectures and more rules. He hated the stupid baby monitor protocol as it was, having things added to it would be unbearable.  
“Ok,” came Karen’s soft reply.  
Taking a deep breath, Spider-Man ran to the edge of the building and leaped onto the next roof to get a better look at the hubbub below. Three men wobbled around a homeless guy shouting taunts and aiming the odd kick and punch in his direction. They were clearly high and getting off on just being scary and violent. The poor subject of their attention was curled into a shivering ball, hands covering his head, desperately trying to give himself a small amount of protection from their blows.  
Spider-Man leapt into the alley and stumbled once again. Thankfully it went unnoticed by the bullies in front of him.  
“Come on guys! This isn’t cool,” said Spidey, grabbing their attention away from the man on the floor.  
“Hey look!” slurred one of the men, a tall stocky guy who didn’t look much older than Peter. “It’s the Spider bug!”  
“Here buggy buggy!” cooed his friend.  
Spider-Man frowned. “Dude. I’m a Spider not a cat.”  
The last of the bullies stepped forward.  
“Man we should take him,” his said rubbing his fist in his palm. “We’ll be famous! The baddest guys around! The ones who took out Spider-Man!”  
A quick chorus of agreements from his friends quickly followed.  
Spidey tilted his head to the side in amazement. “I’m thinking you guys really haven’t thought this through. Perhaps sobering up would be a better idea?”  
The bullies were way too sucked into their plan for fame and glory though and they shuffled towards the wall crawler.  
Spider-Man shrugged. “Okay, well don’t say I didn’t warn you.”  
The nearest of the three men threw a quick punch which Spidey easily dodged. With a gentle push, Spider-Man sent him off balance and staggering to the opposite side of the alley. The next of the bullies decided his luck was better and he jumped forward haphazardly aiming a kick to Spidey’s knee. Spider-Man nimbly stepped out of the way and stood behind him where he again used the man’s motion against him and sent him sprawling to the floor. He was about to set sights on the third of the gang when blinding pain shot through his head sending him crashing to his knees. His ears rang loudly and for a moment his vision went black. Looking up he saw through the spots in his eyes the last of the bullies stood with an old plank of wood in his hand.  
_“I didn’t even sense him,”_ thought Spider-Man.  
His mind raced trying to work out a reason when a hard kick to his back sent him sprawling to the filthy wet floor. Spidey coughed trying to breathe through the tight pain thrumming through his body. Another kick swiftly followed and he felt his ribs crack as he was thrown onto his back. The men decided this was the chance to step their beating up and their fists flew thick and fast. Spider-Man felt the wood slam hard down onto his body again making him splutter blood into his mask. He curled in on himself and tried to shield his body from the pain.  
_“It’s just three young bullies and they’re winning. Get up Spidey! Get up or you’re going to die!”_ Spider-Man’s mind screamed.  
The beating paused for a moment and Spider-Man became aware of their heavy breathing. Their effort was clearly wearing them out. Spidey might be down but he wasn’t out, he knew an opening when he saw one. Mustering his strength he speedily pulled himself to his feet, dragging in short sharp breathes as he did.  
“You still wanting more?” scoffed the largest of the men.  
Spider-Man didn’t reply, instead he stayed hunched over with his eyes fixed on his attackers and concentrated on standing.  
With a smirk the man stepped forward and swung a punch. Spidey caught his fist but to his horror he couldn’t push it back. His eyes widened as the thug pushed down on his arm. Spider-Man’s knees began to tremble with the strain of trying to push back.  
_“How can he be stronger?!”_ the panicked voice inside his head shouted.  
“Could I recommend your webs Peter?” Karen suddenly said.  
“Idiot!” muttered Spider-Man and he swung his other hand around and webbed the guy right in his face.  
Taking the opportunity whilst the tables had turned, he quickly leapt to the nearest wall and from his raised position webbed the remaining two men before they could gather their wits about them. Without a single pause Spider-Man then webbed the final thug to the wall whilst he still desperately pulled at the webbing smothering his face.  
Spider-Man dropped to the floor, wincing as he landed, and limped painfully to the well and truly stuck drunk. He pulled out a vial of dissolvent and carefully poured it onto the guys face. As the web disappeared the man took a huge gasp and sucked in air as quickly as he could, filling his lungs to the brim.  
“You fucking asshole! You could have killed me!” the enraged guy screamed at the wall crawler.  
“Could have but didn’t.”  
Not bothering to wait and see if the thug would reply again, Spidey shot a web to the nearest roof and quickly swung away from the fray. He continued to swing until his body burned with the effort and then he allowed himself to drop to a roof and fall into an exhausted bundle of pain.  
“I am trying to contact Mr Stark, Peter but I am yet to receive an answer,” said Karen calmly.  
“Thanks Karen,” wheezed Spider-Man. Even he couldn’t deny he desperately needed the help now. “Can you make sure you tell the police about those guys too?”  
“Already done Peter.”  
Nodding his thanks he turned his head in the direction of the Avengers Tower, he realised he wasn’t far away, he could swing over in a matter of minutes. Spider-Man decided he just couldn’t lie there and await his rescue, after all who knew how long that would be. Gritting his teeth he hauled himself to his feet. He felt his muscles convulse with agony and a small whimper left his mouth. He stood bent in two for a moment, listening to the steady drip of his blood hitting the floor below him. After building up his mental resolve he limped to the edge of the building and set about web swinging his way to the tower.  
The journey was torture and Spidey started to curse himself for ever thinking this was a smart idea. The tower loomed ahead and with one last huge push, Spider-Man swung high and landed on the sloped side of the building. The cold air immediately bit at his aching body and the idea that he would now have to force his weary body to crawl up the freezing glass drew a pitiful moan from his mouth. Not wanting to be in the cold and dark a moment longer, Spidey began to haul himself upwards.  
“Karen,” gasped Spider-Man. “Any luck getting through to Mr Stark?”  
“Trying again now Peter.”  
Silence filled the air for a moment and eventually he heard a tiny click and a tired voice answer.  
“Kid? It’s almost two am and I was dreaming of things that would make your twelve year old toes curl in shock so this better be good.”  
“I’m sixteen,” hissed Spider-Man in-between painful breaths.  
Tony’s voice immediately went serious.”Pete what’s wrong? Where are you?”  
“I’m on my way to you. I’m about...”  
Spidey suddenly cut his sentence short as his hands slipped and he slid down the smooth glass rapidly. A shout of fear, panic and pain tore itself from his throat as he scrambled to get a grip on the sheer surface.  
“Pete!!” shouted Tony. “What’s going on? Tell me where you are! FRIDAY send me his location.”  
The wall crawler panicked. “I can’t hold on Mr Stark! I’m not sticking!”  
“Where are you?!” bellowed Tony.  
“On... on the tower.” Spider-Man managed to cry out as he tried to use his feet to hold on. For a moment it worked, but only for a moment. His feet quickly unstuck just as his hands had and he began to slide down again.  
The wall crawler let out another yell and without hesitation shot a line of web clumsily up at the building. His aim was nowhere near good enough and as the web jolted with his weight it snapped and dropped him once more. Gritting his teeth as he fell he took aim again as precisely as he could and shot another line of web. This time he hit the glass at a far better angle and his web held strong as he jerked to a stop.  
Spidey let out a howl as the motion wrenched his beaten body causing broken ribs to grind and gashes to widen.  
Tony grimaced at the noise as he ran down corridors to the main landing platform. “FRIDAY what’s Peter’s status?”  
FRIDAY’s voice sounded loudly above him. “Peter appears to be dangling from a web attached to the platform. He is approximately three floors below us.”  
“Shit!” cursed Tony and he quickly hit a button on his watch to call his suit. It speedily arrived and wrapped itself around the billionaire who didn’t stop his sprint for even a moment. He burst through the glass door causing it to shatter.  
“FRIDAY scan the area,” Iron Man asked as he paused unsure as to which part of the platform Peter was actually hanging from. Before he could receive an answer he heard a torturous groan and a red hand appeared to his left. Iron Man ran to the edge and heaved Spider-Man up.  
The Wall-Crawler clung to Iron Man’s hand and tugged himself up and to his feet. “Thanks Tony,” he whispered, his words slurred.  
Iron Man’s masked flipped up to reveal Tony’s concerned face. He reached up and tugged off Spidey’s mask so he could take a proper look at him.  
Peter’s tired brown eyes locked onto Tony’s and from the look alone he could see just how gruelling his kid’s night had been. A beat later and Peter’s eyes glazed over and began to roll back into his head.  
“Pete!” shouted Tony fearfully. He shot out an arm and stopped him from toppling back over the edge.  
Peter could feel a cold metal arm being snaked under his knees and his body gently cradled against Tony’s. He prised his eyes open and sluggishly held a hand up above his face. He could see the obvious shaking. He squeezed his hand into a fist in the hope of stopping the strong trembles.  
“Underoos? You with me?” Tony softly asked.  
Peter rolled his eyes up trying to see his mentors face. As hard as he tried he just couldn’t seem to focus his vision.  
“Can’t...see...,” he mumbled unable to see Tony’s brows knit in worry. The dark began to creep in on Peter again and tears started to sting his eyes. “Think abilities... disappearing...”  
He thought he could hear Tony’s panicked voice calling his name and shouting for a med team but he couldn’t be sure and before he could give it any more he fell into a world of nothing.

***

Everything was still dark when Peter next cracked opened his eyes. Dark and very fuzzy. He tried to turn his head to look at where he was lying but the slight movement gave him the feeling of motion sickness and a small almost silent moan escaped from him.  
“Hey Spider-ling. You back with us?”  
A blurred face appeared above Peter’s and he squinted hard trying to make it out. “Mr Stark...?”  
“The one and only,” replied Tony a hint of a smile on his lips.  
Peter squeezed his eyes tightly closed before pulling them open again hoping to clear his vision.  
“Why’s it so dark in here?” he questioned.  
“Sorry kid,” answered Tony. “I wasn’t sure if your powers would be back and I didn’t want you to be overwhelmed. FRIDAY turn the lights up.”  
The room grew brighter but not any clearer.  
“Here, you’ll be wanting these too.” Tony said.  
Peter could feel something cold and metallic slide over his face before resting on his nose. The room revealed itself to be the med bay at Stark Tower. Everything was suddenly sharp and it felt almost as though everything was too harsh to look at after the soft fuzziness of before. He looked to the side to see Tony’s face once more. The bags under his eyes seemed a little darker and the wrinkles in his forehead a little deeper.  
“They’re your old glasses,” explained Tony. “Aunt Hottie dropped them off for you. She was by your side all night but she had to work. She’ll be back again later. I’ll let her know you’re awake.”  
“Wait...,” said Peter confused. “Glasses? I’ve not needed glasses since before...” Peter suddenly bolted upright in a panic. “Am I not Spider-Man anymore?!”  
Pain tore through his body as the sudden jerk jolted injuries not even close to being healed. Peter let a whimper slip out as he curled in on himself.  
“Dammit kid!” shouted Tony. He held the fragile boy and lowered him gently back to his bed. “You’re still Spider-Man ok. Just a temporarily powerless Spider-Man and a temporarily powerless Spider-Man also temporarily doesn’t have healing powers so you are far from being able to jump all over the place like that.  
“Sorry,” muttered Peter. He felt exhaustion beginning to wash over him again and the room began to blur once more.  
“Mr Stark?” said Peter, his eyelids growing heavy.  
“What’s up kid?”  
“Why do you have blood on your hands?” Peter asked as he began to nod off.  
Tony looked down at his palms. “Shit! FRIDAY get Bruce in here now! Pete buddy, don’t go to sleep now. Bruce is on his was to get you stitched back up.”  
Peter frowned. “Don’t like stitches. Just tired.”  
“I know kiddo,” Tony gently replied his voice threaded with urgency. “You just can’t rest just yet. Bruce will be upset if he doesn’t see those big brown peepers of yours.”  
“Dr Banner’s upset with me!” hiccupped Peter.  
“No! No, no, no, Spider-ling but Bruce needs you to stay awake so he can get you fixed up ok, so just open up your eyes.”  
The door to the med bay swung open and banged against the wall.  
“Tony what happened?” asked Bruce as he rushed over to Peter’s side.  
“Dr Banner? Sorry. Just need to sleep. Promise you see peepers in a bit,” Peter slurred and he slowly drifted off to the sound of worried voices.

***

Five days had passed since a broken Spider-Man had half crawled onto his tower and left a bloody trail behind him. Tony sat in his lounge waiting to be called down to the med bay and be told if Spider-Baby was a free teen once more. He flicked through channels on the massive TV in front of him not settling on anything as he anxiously awaited the call.  
“Boo!”  
Tony jumped out of his skin, dropping the remote in the process. His hand shot to his watch ready to call his suit as he looked to the ceiling above him.  
“Shit Underoos! You gave me a heart attack! What the hell are you doing on the ceiling?!”  
Peter let out a bark off laughter as he stood directly above his mentors head. “I got the all clear from Dr Banner and he said I could go and surprise you.”  
“Surprise me!” growled Tony. “You nearly made me stain my pants!”  
Peter’s smile spread wider across his face.  
Tony heavily sighed, his heart slowing down to a more stable rhythm. “I see from the lack of goggles and your total disregard for my already messed up heart that we have our powers back.”  
“Yep!” grinned Peter. “Super senses came back yesterday morning and I gotta say doing that the first time was not fun so doing it twice sucked! Healing came back last night, I missed that sooo much, and by lunchtime today I was just a bunch of small cuts and bruises. Spidey is back in business!”  
“Yeah, well let’s not get too ahead of ourselves,” Tony replied. “We’ve still got to find the woman that did this and you are officially Spider-banned until we do.”  
Peter’s eyes shot wide open and he crossed his arms huffily. “C’mon Mr Stark! That’s not fair! Dr Banner gave me the thumbs up, see!”  
Peter jigged from one foot to another demonstrating his unique sticky ability. He had just placed his left foot down when he found his right came unstuck. Peter cried out, startled, as he swung down on one leg in surprise losing his grip on his left foot as well in the process and tumbling from the ceiling into a heap on Tony’s lap.  
“Spidey back in business huh?” snorted Tony staring deadpan at the teen lying on top of him.  
“Sorry Mr Stark,” Peter said sheepishly as he climbed off his mentor and crawled over to the other side of the sofa,  
Tony rolled his eyes. “Kid, if you make it to see your 21st birthday my heart will give out just from the shock.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for giving this one-shot a try! Please do leave me any thoughts and comments you have. ^_^


End file.
